La mujer de piedra

by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer

Colección Fontana.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1997

About the author

Gustavo Adolfo Domínguez Bastida, better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, was a Spanish post-romanticist writer of poetry, short stories, and nonfiction now considered one of the most important figures in Spanish literature. He adopted the alias of Bécquer as his brother Valeriano Bécquer, a painter, had done earlier. He was associated with the post-romanticism movement and wrote while realism was enjoying success in Spain. He was moderately well known during his life, but it was after his death that most of his works were published.

He is best known for his intimate, lyrical poems and for his legends; more importantly, he is remembered for the verbal decor with which he impregnated everything he wrote. A Romantic poet above all else, Bécquer infused every single line he wrote with sensorial intensity, and his Legends still serve today as some of the most brilliant examples of prose poetry. Always including elements of the supernatural, Bécquer imbued his legends with a gothic sensibility, depicting gnomes, ghosts, enchanted fortresses and monasteries, and men and women who succumb to vanity or desire.

Other lesser-known, but none less valuable, works include his "Cartas Desde mi Celda" ("Letters from my Cell") and "Cartas Literarias a una Mujer" ("Literary Epistles to a Woman") which adopt an intimate, contemplative style similar to Thoreau in "Walden." Here we find him ruminating at length on the subjects that characterize his poetic works: love, the purpose of art, folklore, the seductive pull of ancient ruins--and, of course, women.


An essential figure in the canon of Hispanic letters, and an obligatory reading in any Spanish-language High School, he is today considered the founder of modern Spanish lyricism. Bécquer's influence on 20th century poets of the Spanish language is felt in the works of poets such as Octavio Paz, Giannina Braschi, Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Pablo Neruda and many more.

Reviews

[Lynchallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bécquer, dueño de una prosa riquísima, se ha convertido después de leer "La mujer piedra" (el cual leo sin haber hojeado nunca sus populares "Rimas y leyendas") en uno de mis cuentistas favoritos, por su descriptiva manera de narrar los sitios, por su profunda carga literaria en cada párrafo, por su ambigüedad continúa, por su justificación de lo cursi y por su originalidad conceptual.

La mayor culpa de este amor mío parido hacia su figura habita en los siguientes cuentos:

Es raro
El aderezo de las esmeraldas
Memorias de un pavo
La pereza
Cartas literarias a una mujer
Los dos compadres

Sin duda, mis 6 favoritos.

Algo que me sorprende de esta recolección de cuentos es que parecen estar hilados por una presentación. Aunque cada historia parece inicialmente una narración personal contada de primera mano, terminan convirtiéndose todas en ficciones fantásticas, que aunque cuentan, sí, con una carga satírica/crítica bastante evidente, gira principalmente sobre la fábula, lo irreal y los procesos de la imaginación.

Amé lo irrazonable de ciertos párrafos, y lo fácil que es identificarse con algunos otros. Hay aquí un concepto que ni siquiera parece buscado, pero que da razón y forma al libro como producto final.

Ya quiero leer sus rimas y leyendas...

Gracias Jennifer.

[jorge]

Sí; el amor es el manantial perenne de toda poesía, el origen fecundo de todo lo grande, el principio eterno de todo lo bello…// El amor es la causa del sentimiento, pero… ¿qué es el amor?// Te lo confesaré ingenuamente: tengo miedo. Algunos días, solo algunos, te lo juro, te hablaré del amor, a riesgo de escribir un millón de disparates.

[Paolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ta bien